#30

For now, it didn’t seem to be about his father. Shin Ho-jae let out a sigh of relief.

“Where are you right now?”

His tone naturally became blunt. This brat only ever called him ‘Oppa’ when she wanted a favor.

Since he had seen her putting a lot of effort into her makeup this morning, saying she was going out to have fun, he figured she probably wanted a taxi ride home.

─Here? I don’t know… I can’t tell.

Ho-jae frowned. The sun hadn’t even set yet; was she already so drunk that she was acting out?

“Then figure it out yourself. I’m hanging up.”

─Ah, don’t hang up! I can’t even stand up because my legs have no strength… I barely managed to escape and call you, and you didn’t even pick up…

“…What?”

─I lost my wallet and I don’t have shoes, so I can’t do anything. Shin Ho-jae, why didn’t you answer right away! Do you know how scared I was that that guy would catch up to me? Ugh…

“…What is that supposed to mean? Who was chasing you?”

─I’ll tell you when we meet. It’s complicated. Heeing… So, can you come or not?

At the sound of her whimpering, Shin Ho-jae shifted the phone to his other hand.

The image of Shin Yeon-jae waving her hands in denial when their mother asked if she was going on a date flashed quickly through his mind.

And now, that same Shin Yeon-jae had fled into the streets without a wallet or shoes. Because ‘that guy’ might catch up to her.

It was only natural that ominous words like date violence or stalking crimes—things that frequently appeared in the news lately—sprang to mind.

“Calm down, stop crying. Open your map app, capture your location, and send it. I’ll be there right away. Got it?”

He hung up the phone hurriedly and turned around to find Kwon Jung-hyun standing there, watching him. Checking that his wallet was in his pocket, Shin Ho-jae asked urgently.

“I’m sorry, but could I leave first? I’ll make up the remaining 30 minutes next time.”

“Where are you headed?”

“Pardon?”

“It will be faster to go in my car than to call a taxi. I’ll give you a ride.”

“…Then, I would appreciate that.”

This was no time for pride. As he said, every second counted, and wasting time calling a taxi was out of the question.

Kwon Jung-hyun guided Shin Ho-jae to the car parked in front of the shop and took the driver’s seat himself. In his frantic state, Ho-jae couldn’t even properly greet the shop owner before climbing into the passenger seat. Just then, a captured image arrived from Shin Yeon-jae.

“It looks like an alley near Gangnam-gu Office. Is it far from here?”

“It will take about 30 minutes.”

As he spoke, Jung-hyun looked at the sky outside the window. The sky was gradually darkening. By the time they crossed over to Gangnam, the sun would be completely set.

“It would be best to tell your girlfriend to stay somewhere safe. If she comes out to the main road from there, there will be a franchise cafe. Tell her to go into any of them.”

Shin Ho-jae, who had been looking at the distance on the map and the stream of messages from Shin Yeon-jae, had only heard the latter half of the sentence and looked up a beat late.

“What? Oh, but she doesn’t have her wallet right now.”

“…Then I’ll give you an address. Tell her to take a taxi and go there. It’s only 10 minutes from Gangnam-gu Office, and there will be someone there to pay the taxi fare for her.”

“That place is…”

“My house. It’ll be safer than outside.”

“……”

Shin Ho-jae stared at Jung-hyun’s profile as he held the steering wheel for a moment.

“…Thank you.”

“It’s nothing.”

Shin Ho-jae forwarded the address he was given directly to Shin Yeon-jae’s message window and pressed the call button. Unlike his bluntness from before, his voice naturally carried worry.

“…Yeah. Just go. We’ll talk when you arrive. Stop crying. Got it?”

After hanging up, Shin Ho-jae looked out the window at the car stopped at a red light and tapped his thigh several times with his fist. It was a habit born of anxiety.

Suddenly, he felt a gaze. The gaze lingered on Shin Ho-jae’s hand tapping his thigh, then slowly dropped as the accelerator was pressed.

Ten minutes later, only after seeing a message from Shin Yeon-jae saying she had arrived safely at Kwon Jung-hyun’s house, did Shin Ho-jae breathe a sigh of relief.

Ho-jae looked out the window at the road they were still traveling on, then relayed the situation to Jung-hyun.

“She says she arrived safely. Ah, who should I give the taxi fare to?”

“It’s fine. The house manager should be there at this time, so they probably paid with my card.”

“Ah…”

Ho-jae hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do. Insisting on paying it back seemed like fussing over pocket change to a man like him. In the end, he chose to offer another thank you, though he had lost count of how many times he’d said it.

“…Thank you. For helping with everything.”

“I didn’t do it to hear thanks, so let’s stop.”

“……”

“I also enjoyed seeing a side of you I haven’t seen before, Ho-jae-ssi.”

At those words, Ho-jae looked toward the driver’s seat.

“You make that face for someone you’re truly worried about.”

“……”

Ho-jae’s brow furrowed slightly. Those words sounded almost as if he wished Ho-jae would worry about him too. …It was a useless thought.

Since he stopped talking and just drove, Ho-jae looked away from his profile. Suddenly, he noticed his right hand resting on the gear shifter.

The protruding bone on the back of his hand was redder than last time. While his gaze lingered there, Jung-hyun’s voice drifted over.

“We’re almost there.”

“Ah, yes.”

The car entered a large mansion located on a quiet hillside. When Jung-hyun pressed the remote on the dashboard, the garage door opened automatically, and the car slid into an empty spot.

The stairs leading from the garage connected directly to the inside of the house. Thanks to Jung-hyun’s consideration, Ho-jae entered the house first and looked around for Shin Yeon-jae.

He saw Shin Yeon-jae, who had been sitting on the living room sofa, jump up upon seeing him.

“Oppa!”

Shin Yeon-jae, whose face was swollen as if she had been crying, ran straight to Ho-jae and hugged him. Since she was a younger sister who always acted tough in front of him, this sight was unfamiliar. Conversely, his heart sank, wondering how much she must have suffered to be like this.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yeah… just a few scrapes on my knees.”

“Let me see.”

Ho-jae sat Shin Yeon-jae back down on the sofa and checked her condition. Because she was wearing a short skirt, her bleeding knees were clearly visible, making him frown.

It seemed the story about fleeing without shoes was true, as her bare feet in slippers were also covered in scratches.

When he looked up with a serious expression, Shin Yeon-jae, perhaps expecting a lecture, added, “I’m not hurt anywhere. Really.” Shin Ho-jae carefully checked her knees and ankles. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any severe injuries.

“But where is this? A friend’s house?”

“Ah…”

As he hesitated on how to explain, he sensed someone behind them. Shin Yeon-jae’s eyes widened as she spotted someone.

“Hello. I am Kwon Jung-hyun, the representative of MJ Sports.”

“Ah, uh… hello?”

“I heard the general situation since I was in a meeting with athlete Shin Ho-jae. My house is nearby, so I told him to bring you here; I hope it wasn’t uncomfortable.”

“Not at all! Um… thank you for helping me.”

“I’ll be upstairs, so please feel free to talk. Contact me if there’s anything I can help with.”

Having said that, Kwon Jung-hyun quietly left the room.

Shin Yeon-jae smiled awkwardly, and as soon as he was completely out of sight, she whispered to Ho-jae.

“What was that? He’s your team representative? He’s so young and handsome.”

“More importantly, you need to explain what happened.”

“Ah…”

“Were you seeing someone? Did that person do this to you? Is it a stalker? Tell me everything from the beginning.”

At those words, Shin Yeon-jae’s expression darkened.

“First, promise you won’t tell Mom.”

“I’ll decide after I hear it.”

“Seriously. If you don’t, I’m not telling you!”

“…Fine. What is it?”

“No, remember that day when you took over Dad’s duty for me because I said I had a friend’s birthday party?”

“Yeah.”

“That day, I went to a club… no, not a club, a night club… or something like that with a friend.”

“……”

“No cursing in the middle. No shouting. No getting angry.”

“I get it, so just keep going.”

“I met someone there who said he ran a small agency…”

The words that followed were absurd.

The man had found out that Shin Yeon-jae was an aspiring actress and said he wanted to scout her, and Shin Yeon-jae, fallen for the sweet talk, had given him her contact information.

Shin Ho-jae let out a small sigh. Like the daughter of his parents, his sister had grown up looking the part and had wanted to be a celebrity since she was young.

It was good that she had eventually gotten into an arts college after many twists and turns, but it seemed she had become impatient after meeting plenty of peers who dreamed of being actors just like her.

And for good reason; even to the uninformed Shin Ho-jae, his sister didn’t seem to have much talent in that area.

“So. Did you go out to meet that man today?”

“No, he said there was an audition at his agency today. He said if I passed, he’d let me take acting classes for free, so that’s why I went… Audition my foot. He was just alone in some weird basement studio.”

“……”

31 – Puck Drop